Advocacy

​Given New York's political climate, playing defense is one of the most important ways Big I NY stands up for you in Albany. New York's legislative session concludes in four weeks, and as is typically the case, numerous harmful bills have popped up.Last week, Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein (D, Brooklyn) introduced a bill to create a statutory “bad faith" cause of action, allowing policyholders to sue insurance companies for a wide range of alleged unfair conduct. The bill includes a raft of incentives for trial attorneys, including extra-contractual damages, double and treble damages, attorney fees, interest, and penalties for failing to settle claims in as little…

This week, Governor Cuomo signed the NY-HERO Act into law, the bulk of which will go into effect on June 4th 2021. The bill mandates the Department of Labor (DOL) create sweeping regulations requiring workplace plans, standards, protective equipment, and responses to “airborne infectious diseases", which includes not just COVID-19, but potentially other airborne diseases such as the flu. The regulations could end up mandating costly equipment upgrades, disinfection procedures, modifications to work hours and schedules, and employee health screenings, to name a few. The bill allows any employee to file a civil suit against their employer for any alleged violations of the exposure plan.…

​On Thursday, in a stunning unanimous decision, a New York Appellate Court sided with Big I NY, ruling that the 2018 amendment to Insurance Regulation 187 (AKA, the “best interest regulation) is unconstitutionally vague. Big I NY contended that, among many other issues, the regulation is unclear on what specifically producers must do in order to comply. The ruling is the latest development in Big I NY's ongoing legal challenge to the regulation, which began shortly after the regulation was adopted in 2018. The DFS is has 30 days to decide if they will appeal the ruling to the state's highest court, the New York…